This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art, which may be related to various aspects of the present invention that are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
The main purpose of a Network Attached Storage device (NAS) is to offer storage services to other devices on a network. A NAS device is usually a server that is accessible from clients to store data. A residential gateway is a network device adapted to connect a local network to the Internet, More and more high-end residential gateways are equipped with at least one USB master port. A USB port allows connecting USB devices such as storage devices, printers, and webcams. When a USS storage device such as a USB hard drive or a USB memory stick is connected to the gateway, the gateway can export some files on the storage device to the home network or to the Internet.
Two approaches are used for sharing files over a LAN on a NAS device. In a first approach, all content and files of a connected disk are exported for all users as soon as a disk is connected. It is then easy to connect files and share files quickly. However, any user can access any files on the disks. In a second approach, a user configures each disk via a user interface. In particular, he indicates which files and directory is exported to which disk, and also which user is allowed to use a given content item. This provides flexibility and security. However, this requires a lot of configuration before files can be used.